Conventionally, many techniques for distributing firmware for an image forming apparatus have been proposed. In general, when a plurality of software is distributed using a software distribution server, it is required that End User License Agreements (hereinafter referred to as “EULA”) for a plurality of software to be distributed be sent for user authorization. However, since the number of EULAs to be authorized increases with the increasing amount of software to be distributed, an approach for treating them collectively is required.
To satisfy such requirements, a technique capable of collectively browsing and authorizing a plurality of electronic documents has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1). In this technique, a document authorization system that authorizes the content of the circulated electronic document appends authentication information to the document data to be authorized and generates the authorized document data. After the display of collective authorization data in which a plurality of document data appended with authentication information is merged, authentication information for the entire collective authorization data is appended. In this technique, a plurality of representatives can register document data to be authorized in a file server from a terminal, integrate the document data when being transmitted to an authorizing person, and let him issue collective authorization.